FIGWORT FAMILY. 323 



# * Herbs, growing wild, or those of the first subdivision (->-) cultivated 



in gardens. 



+- Spikes or dense spike-like racemes terminating the erect stem or branches 

 and often clustered. % 



If. spicata, Linn. Erect from a spreading base, l°-2° high, with 

 opposite or whorled leaves which are narrow-oblong or oblanceolate and 

 serrate, petiolate ; flowers bright blue, the tube shorter than the calyx ; 

 stamens long-exserted. Bu. 



V. pan icu lata, Linn. (V. amethtstln a) . Mostly taller ; leaves opposite 

 or in 3's, lanceolate and acute, crenate-serrate or jagged, narrow at base 

 and petiolate or sub-sessile ; flowers blue in long, loose spikes or racemes. 

 Eu. 



If. Ion gi folia, Linn. The form in cult, as var. subsessilis, from 

 Japan, has ovate leaves sessile or nearly so, which are sharply toothed 

 and broad at the base ; flowers very many in long, erect or spreading 

 spikes, clear blue. 



V. Virgfnica, Linn. Culver's boot. Wild in rich woods from Vt., 

 W. and S.; remarkable for the tube of the small whitish corolla longer 

 than the acutish lobes, and much longer than the calyx ; simple stems 

 2°-6° high, bearing whorls of lanceolate or lance- ovate pointed finely 

 serrate leaves ; spikes dense and clustered. 



+- *- Bacemes in the axils of the opposite leaves ; stems creeping or pro- 

 cumbent at base, but abope ascending ; corolla, as in all the following, 

 strictly wheel-shaped. % 



++ Water Speedwells or Beooklime, in water or wet ground, smooth 

 and with pale blue (sometimes darker striped) flowers on slender spread- 

 ing pedicels. 



= Pod turgid. 



V. Anagallis, Linn. In water N. ; leaves lance-ovate acute, sessile by 

 a heart-shaped base, 2'-3' long ; pod slightly notched, many-seeded. 



V. Americana, Schw. In brooks and ditches ; leaves mostly petioled, 

 ovate or oblong, serrate ; flowers on more slender pedicels, and pod more 

 turgid than in the foregoing. 



= = Pod strongly flattened. 



V. scutellata, Linn. In bogs N. ; slender, with linear slightly toothed 

 sessile leaves, only 1 or 2 very slender zigzag racemes, few long-pediceled 

 pale flowers ; and pod deeply notched at both ends, broader than long, 

 few-seeded. 



*+ -m. In dry ground, pubescent, with light blue flowers in spike-like 



racemes. 



V. officinalis, Linn. Common Speedwell. Spreading or creeping, 

 low ; leaves wedge-oblong or obovate, serrate, short-petioled ; pedicels 

 shorter than calyx; pod wedge-obcordate, several- seeded. N. Eng., W. 

 and S. 



1- -i- -i- Baceme loose, terminating the leafy low stem or branches, or the 

 small flowers in the axils of the gradually decreasing leaves. 



++ 11 Flowers in a terminal raceme. 



V. serpyllif 61ia, Linn. Creeping or spreading on the ground ; with 

 simple flowering stems ascending 2'-4', smooth; leaves roundish, small 

 almost entire ; corolla pale blue or whitish with darker stripes, longer than 

 the calyx. Fields and roadsides. 



